Wednesday looked like it might go that way, too, at least for half an inning.
Sophia Pamer, Northwestern’s all-conference pitcher who held Cincinnati Reading to no hits in five innings in the district final last week, worked a perfect top of the first against Shawnee, getting a pop out, strikeout and fly out.
After the No. 6 seed Warriors (17-9) failed to score in the bottom of the frame, the second inning was a much different story for Shawnee.
With rain picking up, the Braves (25-3) went to work.
Addyson Plummer tripled to lead off the inning and scored on Lily Wilson’s bunt. Wilson reached on an error then scored when Emma George was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
A pair of wild pitches plated two more runs, then George scored on an error to make it 5-0.
“First inning didn’t start out like we wanted it to, but, you know, we definitely got ourselves composed and got back in there and started to make some good things happen for us,” Shawnee coach Gary Baugh said.
“I told the girls it’s good to play with emotion, but it’s good to play with controlled emotion because you can get kind of ahead of yourself in a game. You’ve got to kind of get yourself back to reality and be ready to go for the next play.”
The rain eventually relented, but the Braves did not.
Shawnee tacked on one more run before Pamer struck out Wilson looking to end the frame, but that was more than enough runs for the Braves to advance to their fourth regional final.
They will try to win it for the first time Friday in Centerville against Liberty Union.
“We just go back and we just kind of reset,” Shawnee coach Gary Baugh said of approaching the regional final. “We go back and look at everything that’s got us here and what’s gotten us here, and what we’ve been able to do, and just keep instilling the belief that, you know we do belong, and we are a team that people should take notice of.”
At the plate Wednesday, George was 4 for 4 and put an exclamation point on the afternoon with a home run to centerfield that gave Shawnee an 11-0 lead in the fourth inning.
The Braves added five more in the fifth to win going away.
Simpson drove in three runs and was 2 for 3 while senior pitcher Aleeseah Trimmer scattered three hits over five innings, walked one and struck out six.
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
“‘It’s not gonna be easy,’ — I went in with that kind of mindset because we’ve played them twice already,” said Trimmer, the CBC Mad River Pitcher of the Year who improved to 22-1 on the season. “So I just wanted to stay consistent, start ahead and just hope we came out firing on all cylinders.
“Definitely a lot less pressure with the insurance runs, and knowing that I have a good defense behind me makes it a lot easier to throw my game and be comfortable on the mound.”
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